A Short History Of The Internet

My journey to the heart of the forgotten internet

Slowly but surely, huge swaths of the internet are vanishing. But the artefacts of the early web are still out there, and they have lessons for the future.

When the Internet Was a Place - Front Porch Republic

Not too long ago, the internet was a place you visited. The family desktop sat in its designated closet or back office. In schools, there were rooms filled with computers blinking in tandem, waiting for your class to arrive and hop online. You had to purposefully arrive at the internet, and when done, you left […]

The Internet Is Making You Less Free

Our current age is defined by the internet. The internet—a technology that allows the decentralized, globalized dissemination of information—has become so

When, How, and Why to Abandon the Internet

Should we abandon the internet? Voice memos from Douglas Rushkoff, Bridget Todd, Robin Berjon, Janet Vertesi and more on leaving, rebuilding or saving it.

Historical pragmatism and the internet

This article argues that the literature describing the internet revolution in the 1990s was characterized by the rhetoric of the technological sublime. This rhetoric suffered from three fatal flaws: (1) it was not sufficiently grounded in the historical development of technology; (2) it viewed the internet in isolation, failing to consider the wider technological context; and (3) it failed to examine the internet in view of the social, economic, religious and political circumstances of its users. Several examples from history are cited, demonstrating that changes in various systems for the production, dissemination and preservation of cultural information both border and deborder the world. The article suggests that if internet researchers take a pragmatic, historically grounded approach, they will discover that the introduction of internet technology can be seen to have similar consequences. While the technology overcomes many boundaries (of space and time, politics and economics), other social borders may be created at the same time. It is easier to see old boundaries coming down than to see new ones being erected. Rather than being swept by utopian or dystopian enthusiasms, the article insists that the really interesting discoveries are to be made in locating the subtle social shifts taking place, relatively unnoticed, as a consequence of technological change.

we were online

Turn the internet into a living, shared space with real-time traces of people browsing.

The Internet Will Be More Dead Than Alive Within 3 Years, Trend Shows

All signs point to a future internet where bot-driven interactions far outnumber human ones.

The Dark Forest Anthology of the Internet

A book about how to survive on the internet. It’s about the cozy web, the dark web, the dark forest, the clear net, the dark net, and a new social world emerging around us. This is the Dark Forest Anthology of the Internet.

The Boring Internet

The internet you grew up on isn't dying. A commercial veneer glued on top of it is.

The Boring Internet

The internet you grew up on isn't dying. A commercial veneer glued on top of it is.

Kill The Internet IRL in Austin TX

A night of philosophizing in the digital age of chaos and decay. Discussions with three online public philosophers on technology, privacy, and the state of our internet enmeshed civilization.The D...

All Internet Roads Lead Back to 2014

Ten years ago, developments in commerce, activism, and influencer culture coalesced, and our contemporary concept of “being online” was born

What if the internet stopped working for a day?

For many people, going without the internet even for a few hours is unthinkable. But if it did stop working, the impact might not be what you'd expect.

The End of the Internet

The old Internet, where anyone could host a server is over, but it’s just the final blow in an ending that has been coming for years. The future, though, is brighter than it appears.